Mental health claims have topped $2.2 billion, and early intervention could save $219 million a year

Two figures published this week move the psychosocial risk conversation from compliance to cost. Insurance Business reported on 28 July 2026 that mental health claims paid by Australian life insurers more than doubled over five years, exceeding $2.2 billion in 2024, citing Council of Australian Life Insurers and APRA data. Mental health is now the leading cause of total and permanent disability (TPD) claims, making up almost one in three claims paid, and drove one in five income protection claims ($887 million in payouts) in 2024. Most striking: APRA data shows mental health TPD claims among people in their 30s have risen more than 700 per cent over the past decade. Safe Work Australia's own figures back this up, mental health conditions now account for 12 per cent of all serious workers' compensation claims, up 14.7 per cent year-on-year, with median time lost almost five times longer than for other injury types. Separately, a Bupa and Centre for Economics and Business Research study published 22 July 2026 modelled the workplace productivity cost of major life events, becoming a parent, bereavement, caregiving, divorce, marriage, estimating $10.7 billion in lost output and 18.5 million working days a year nationally. The same study found workers who proactively managed their mental health during these events took an average of two fewer sick days a year, and around 70 per cent of respondents wished they had sought support earlier. Read together, the two data sets make the business case a board or officer actually has to act on: the cost of unmanaged psychosocial risk is now measured in billions, not anecdotes, and the study evidence for early, proactive intervention already exists. For PCBUs weighing whether psychosocial risk management is a compliance cost or a productivity investment, this is the clearest answer yet.